20 September 2012

My Experience as an Intern at RWY - Hoong Wei En

To start things off, I
want to thank Mr Richard and Mr Yip for giving me a chance to work and learn alongside
them as well as the team at Richard Wee & Yip (RWY) for patiently teaching
and guiding me through the two months tenure with them. Having completed my
internship programme with Richard Wee & Yip, I can now say that the
experience had broadened my horizon, giving me a foretaste of the working
environment and the life of a lawyer.

Working was a totally new
territory for me and having never to have worked before, I did not know what to
expect when I joined Messrs Richard Wee & Yip. I was a mixture of excitement
and nervousness when I met Mr Richard for the very first time during my
interview.

On my first day, still
apprehensive of what was expected in my job as an intern, Mr Yip approached me
to sit in on a discussion, which I later found out that it was an arbitration
case. I was blessed to be able to work alongside Mr Yip and a claims consultant,
learning new terms, phrases and processes, which I have never even heard
before. It was a challenge for me, trying to understand and grasp the case but
Mr Yip patiently took me through the case.

I spent my first two weeks
at the firm doing clerical work and conveyancing matters, filling in CKHT
forms, drafting, compiling and mailing out letters. I learnt how to handle the
office machines such as the binder, the photocopier and the ancient typewriter.

Aside from clerical work,
I got to do research relating to Internet Law for the Legal Tech Forum, where
Mr Richard was an invited speaker.Together with the other lawyers of RWY, I attended the Forum and got new
insights to the cyber world and the law governing it.

I was also given the
opportunity to sit in on meetings and court cases and it was very eye opening
especially when I went to the Palace of Justice. Drafting Letter of Demands,
Statement of Claims, and translations of Affidavits in Reply are some of the other
things that I do as an intern under the supervision of the other lawyers. Like
everything else, it was new to me but I rather enjoyed doing them.

Furthermore, I had the
privilege to directly assist Mr Richard and Mr Yip in the pioneer project of
Safer Malaysia, which is close to their hearts. Safer Malaysia is a platform
for the public to air their grievances and to attempt to push for reforms of
our security administration, with the aim to make our country a safer place. In
this project, I aided Mr Richard by compiling articles and news on crime,
drafting proposals, vision statements and articles as well as research. On many
occasions, I followed both Mr Richard and Mr Yip for meetings with government
representatives and individuals from other NGOs who are interested in working
hand in hand with Safer Malaysia. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me
to be involved in a project that is so dear to the heart of many Malaysians. Although
this is not related to any legal framework, it was very enlightening and
through this, I learnt that complaining brings you nowhere. We should instead
try to do something to remedy the situation.

Before interning at a law
firm, I was of the opinion that I would only be learning very general office
work like photostating, binding and making coffee but my experience at Richard
Wee & Yip has changed my whole perspective as a law intern. I was given
every opportunity to learn and the lawyers as well as the clerks at the firm
were patient in teaching and did not withhold any knowledge and impart freely. The
people at RWY are also very warm and friendly. This makes the firm a very condusive
enviroment for learning. Accordingly when I joined the firm it was a quiet
period, I am thankful to still be able to learn many things, both legal and
non-legal. Some important principles that I learn from RWY are integrity,
sincerity and punctuality.

In the meantime, feel free to leave comments. We appreciate any feedback from our visitors.

Thanks.

History of RWY

RWY is in fact a merger of 2 Law Firms.

Messrs Yip Huen Weng & Co was formed in April 2004 by our partner, HW Yip. It was based in Damansara Perdana. Yip was called to the Bar in 1998.

Richard Wee formed Messrs T.S Wee & Co in April 2003. Like our current base, Messrs T.S. Wee & Co was also based in Taman Tun Dr Ismail then. Richard was called to the Bar in 1999.

Yip and Richard were in fact formerly leading the Litigation Department of Messrs David Lingam & Co from 1999 to 2003. They both eventually joined forces and set up RWY in January 2010.

RWY has roots to the respective establishments of Messrs Yip Huen Weng & Co and Messrs T.S. Wee & Co. Much of our system of work, operative procedures and of course our Clients; grew from those 2 respective firms.